Two Years Gone
by amberranae6292
Summary: Two years ago, Ranger was sent on a secret mission for the government, cutting him off from all contact. Now, he's back. Oneshot no intentions to continue. May not turn out like you think.


**Disclaimer : S'not mine. If you wanna know about B&J's, see below.**

**Here ya go..

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Two years. Two long, painful years.

That was how long he had gone without seeing her.

Two years without seeing the sparkle in her eyes, the stubbornness in her features, her beauty.

Two years.

He was not drunk -- he was not sitting off in a bar, drowning down whiskey and every other alcoholic substance available. He had sworn to himself that he would never do that again; not after what happened years ago with his ex-wife, who, he had heard got re-married.

Instead, he was there, laying beside the one female who kept his heart beating, her head on his chest for the first time in two years. Her face was calm, peaceful. He could only imagine what was going through her imaginative head at that point; the Lord only knew.

She had been so surprised to see him earlier, and he didn't blame her. He was out of contact for two years, cut off from everybody, helping out the government.

Never again, he swore. Nobody had even known he had come back, except for her. No, her surprise was not the problem.

When he had stepped into her bedroom, she had just stared at him. She had barely even recognized who he was.

That had felt like someone had stabbed him in the heart.

She soon accepted him; she always accepted him. She knew he was not perfect, and he loved her even more for that. She was his entire world, one of the main things he thought about while he was gone.

The reason for his sanity.

Her smile, her laugh. The look in her eyes when she realized that she was right.

It broke his heart to know that he had missed so much of her life.

Two year's worth.

She shifted in her sleep, and he held his breath, hoping she would not wake. They had talked for hours, longer than he would have normally approved. She had left the room long enough to get a snack, then they had talked even longer.

He had been hesitant at first, not sure how much information to give her, but, like always, she had quietly taken down all the walls around his heart.

When she settled, he wrapped a curl around his finger. She had gotten her hair cut while he was gone, but she kept it in her standard ponytail. She had said that she had a new boyfriend -- it killed him to know he had not been there.

He knew he had been replaced with another man; at least _somebody_ had been there. It just hurt him to know that he waited too long. She had all but given up on him.

She asked him where he had been; he had not been able to tell her. But again, she accepted it as part of him. Part of his lifestyle.

"Don't leave," she had whispered, right before going to sleep.

"I won't," he promised, and he hadn't. He was still right there, holding her firmly.

Two long years of her life he had missed. Two years gone, never to be returned.

There was only one person who could take down his shields in a split second -- her. He would sacrifice himself for her in the blink of an eye, and they both knew it. He would and had killed for her. She had never asked him for anything in return, unlike all the other women in his life.

Two years of birthdays, Christmasses, Halloweens, Thanksgivings. His sisters had left him a million messages on his cell phone, telling him to go to her, talk to her.

"Ric," Celia had said, "She really needs you. Her mother is all but gone, living on the booze. She's heartbroken that she hasn't heard from you; everybody sees it. Tank, Lester, Bobby, Ram, Cal... We're all worried about her, Ric. If you're getting this message at all, please pay her a visit, give her a call, something, anything, so that she knows that someone is there for her."

So there he was, laying on her uncomfortable bed. He knew he should get up and inform everybody that he was back, but he couldn't.

He had been gone for so long, he could, at the very least, give her one night all to themselves.

She shifted in her sleep again, but this time, her vibrant, full of life eyes stayed open.

Her hand gently traced the features on his face.

"You're still here," she whispered.

Again, a blow to his heart that she had not expected him to keep his word.

"I told you I would be," he murmered back.

She gave him a full-on smile and snuggled closer. How he had missed that simple sensation, the compassion put behind it.

"I love you," he said, burrying his head into her hair.

She pulled the blankets up further over both her and me, then closed her beautiful eyes again.

"I love you too, Daddy."

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**kk.. Now, about B&J's. I could give you a buncha half-assed excuses, but honestly, I'm too lazy to. Now that this thing is finally letting me uplaod (but then again, i'm not sure if it is, i'm typing this before i attempt to upload it), i decided that i'm jus not feelin the.. plot.. or whatever.. of B&J's. I'm currently kinda-sorta-half-assed working on another StephRic fanfic, but until then I'm goin to just write oneshots (which, for the record, B&J's was intended to be).**

**Review**

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